Hong Kong’s hosting of snooker’s World Grand Prix in March is set to be the first of many after organisers confirmed on Tuesday they had signed a five-year deal to keep it in the city.
The forthcoming tournament from March 4 to 9 could also smash the attendance record for any ranking event globally when the world’s leading 32 players perform at the new Kai Tak Arena before up to 5,300 spectators. It will be Hong Kong’s first ranking event in 35 years.
Speaking exclusively to the Post, Simon Brownell, chief executive of World Snooker Tour (WST), singled out the local appetite as a factor in turning Hong Kong into a regular ranking event host.
He cited the crowd of about 9,000 – a world record for a snooker match – who flocked to Hong Kong Coliseum for the final of the invitational Masters tournament, a non-ranking event, in 2022.
“To succeed as an event, we have to create an atmosphere where snooker is being played that elevates the game,” Brownell said in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
“And that tends to be the case when you have huge crowds, and crowds that really understand the sport, really appreciate the level of effort and kind of skill that is demonstrated by the players.
“When you can get those audiences in great numbers, the players become peacocks. They want to show off in front of them, they want to demonstrate how talented they are.
“We saw that from the Hong Kong Masters when 9,000 fans attended that final. That was huge, so without a shadow of a doubt, Hong Kong has got [such fans].”
The 10,000-seat Kai Tak Arena will be about half-full at best, because of the tournament set-up, but a record crowd for any ranking tournament is expected.
“The German Masters in Berlin was about 2,400, that’s one of our biggest,” Brownell said. “In China, we regularly hit more than 2,000 – Shanghai this year was over 2,000 and I think Yushan, too.
“The UK Championship is about 1,200 and the World Championship [at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre] is only 989.”
Feng Huanhuan, chief executive of organisers F-Sports Promotions, said there would initially be up to 5,300 seats for a two-table set-up, until it switches to one table for the semi-finals and final, with the capacity halved.
“We spent a lot of effort to convince WST to move it to Hong Kong,” she said of the World Grand Prix, previously staged in the UK. “We started the lobbying work when we were hosting the International Championship in Tianjin in November 2023.”
She added that Kai Tak Sports Park’s delayed completion had injected uncertainty.
“We expect all five events to be held at Kai Tak,” she said. “At one point, we were almost desperate when searching for an arena in Hong Kong last year.
“We thought about moving it to Macau, even Shenzhen … but we didn’t want to give up on Hong Kong.”
Tickets ranging from HK$80 (US$10) to HK$2,580 will be available from 8.18am next Monday through HK Ticketing and Damai, a mainland Chinese ticketing platform.
Eight matches – two per table in the afternoon and evening sessions – will be played on each of the first two days.
The top 32 players in the rankings will be confirmed next month after the German Masters and the Welsh Open.
Local star Marco Fu Ka-chun, who is No 71 in the world, is set to miss out, but will feature in some exhibition matches during the week.